


First Sight

by gabiroba



Series: Drabbling in a Playlist Challenge [9]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Chance Meetings, F/M, Love at First Sight, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-04
Updated: 2014-05-04
Packaged: 2018-01-21 23:06:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1567301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gabiroba/pseuds/gabiroba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One take on how Phil Coulson and Melinda May might have met. Based on the song "Oh My Goodness" by Olly Murs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Sight

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this story manages to capture the feelings in this song. I spent longer on this story than any other in the series I believe. I also heard this song so many time while writing that it is permanently stuck in my brain cells. I hope you all enjoy.

Oh my goodness, I can't hide it  
You just smiled when you walked by me  
Oh my goodness  
Warning signs that no one showed me  
Lost control, but please don't hold me back  
Gonna go for it, I hope you're ready for it  
Oh

Phil Coulson had been at the Academy for three month now and was finally getting his bearings. He could finally get through the halls without thinking they had made a mistake when they had accepted him. At first it had been tough going for him. He didn't fit in with all the stoic men and women around him. It seemed as if closed-off faces and stand-offish demeanors were pre-requisite for becoming a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

While he was finally feeling more comfortable in his environment, he had yet to make any friends. He had classmates and people he would train with during the mandatory work-out sessions at the gym. He had been to a few parties here and there, but each time he went to one he usually wound up in one of the corners, nursing his beer and not speaking to anyone, and no one speaking to him either.

That is, until today.

Today he had been rushing to his next class and had bumped into another student; a female student. From her attire and manner, Phil guessed she was in her first year like him. But from the first moment he noticed her he could tell that she wasn't like the rest of his classmates. For one, she hadn't completely dismissed him because he had stumbled into her, and made them both lose all their books in the process.

Not only had she helped him pick up his things while she was getting hers, she had actually smiled at him as well. She had spread her lips to form a true and warm smile. At that moment he knew he was lost; she was gorgeous. There were no other words for him to use. His mind had become momentarily paralyzed, just as had his feet and the rest of his body.

If that one chance encounter had not been enough, they had crossed paths again in the cafeteria during lunch. He just could not believe his luck. He had gone from not having seen her even once, to having two wonderful encounters with the woman he had decided would one day become his wife.

He figured he had nothing to lose. Nobody had given him a second look at this place, not even his teachers. He had not only gotten to see this goddess twice, but both times she'd had a smile for him – and the second time he hadn't even had to barge into her. He counted that as a major win.

He had seen her sitting at the other end of the room and taken a deep breath. This was it. He would make his move. Quiet, nervous, Phil Coulson was going to talk to someone, a girl someone, for the first time since getting here, and all for the express purpose of socializing. He made his way across the room, his heart beating in his chest so fast that it threatened to jump out.

Cause I don't know if I can stop now  
I'm going too fast, heart first  
My head just can't slow me down  
And I don't care if you don't break my fall  
You got me dreaming of a life  
That anybody else would die for

Once his feet began moving in her direction, there was no stopping him. It was as if his body began ignoring all the warning signs his mind had started to send out. So many thoughts were going through his mind, but he knew he had to get to that table and speak to that girl. He knew his life would change from it, and he needed that like he needed water.

Approaching her was the easy part, but just as before his voice failed him. He had no idea what to say. He had lost the ability to even remember his own name. All that ran through his mind the moment he stopped before her was, 'pretty', and he was sure that would not have been the best way to make a good impression on his future bride.

Luckily, she took the need to speak first from him.

"Oh, hi, I didn't get a chance to introduce myself earlier. I'm Melinda May, nice to meet you."

He smiled; a beautiful name for a beautiful girl. It described her perfectly to him.

"Hi, I'm Phil, Phil Coulson, good to meet you too." He looked down, ashamed for his earlier behavior. "I'm sorry that I ran you down this morning. I was late and wasn't looking where I was going. I should have been more careful."

"Nonsense! I'm the one who should be apologizing to you. I saw you coming and didn't even move out of your way."

Coulson frowned, "Why not?"

Now it was her turn to look down in embarrassment. Her cheeks tinged with pink. He didn't think he had ever seen anything cuter than Melinda May at that moment.

She looked back up and admitted to what she had been doing that morning.

"I have been kind of following you around for the past two weeks. We have Ops, Tactical and Intro to S&R together. You never noticed me and I wanted to test out a theory."

He was stunned. This beauty had been following him, and they had classes together. How had he never noticed her in any of them? He decided to ignore that little piece of information for the moment and became suspicious. Anytime anyone had wanted to test out anything on him before it had ended badly.

"What theory?"

She smiled in a mischievous way, "I wanted to see if it was just me you were avoiding in class or everyone."

He stared at her some more. She had noticed him in class. She had not only noticed, but had become so interested that she had set up a meeting with him just to see if he might be interested in her. He almost asked her to pinch him to make sure he was awake. He couldn't have been awake. Nothing this good ever happened to him.

"Uh," he said intelligently.

She looked on, still embarrassed by what she had just admitted to. 'And now I've gone and ruined it by saying all that. Maybe there is merit to staying quiet as my mother always told me,' she thought.

When he still didn't make a move she took it to mean he didn't want anything to do with her and began to move away. She collected the rest of her lunch and started to stand when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Please don't go." He looked almost pleadingly at her. "Would you like to have lunch with me? Maybe you can tell me some more about that theory you have about me?"

"You're not freaked out by Stalker!Melinda?" She was skeptical and hoped he wasn't pulling her leg.

He smiled and looked down. His other hand came to rub at his neck, slightly embarrassed to be about to say what he was thinking.

"I'm actually a little flattered. You're the first person to look at me twice in this place."

"That cannot be true. You're acing all your classes from what I can tell. Maybe people are just intimidated by you."

He had to chuckle at that thought. "I highly doubt that. Listen, let me just go get my things and I will be right back."

She smiled and sat back down. "Sure. I'll be here."

I'm rolling downhill, no brakes  
Can't go back now, it's too late, oh  
It's too late to look away, and unfeel what I feel for you  
Look away, and unsee what I see in you  
I'm gonna go for it, I hope you're ready

The whole way back to his backpack all Phil could think was that smile. She smiled at him and talked to him. He knew that if anyone glanced his way they would see a grin plastered from ear to ear on his face, and there was no possible way for him to care less at their opinions. Melinda May had smiled and talked to him: Major win, even if he had just met her.

He rushed back on the off chance she had changed her mind in the interim, but thankfully he was greeted once more by her soft features. His inner Phil did a summersault at that.

All throughout lunch she he couldn't keep the stupid grin off his face, and from what he could tell she smiled the entire time as well, even laughing at his lamest jokes. 'There has to be something wrong with this girl,' kept going through his mind. Still, they talked and discovered they had more in common than just some classes.

Cause I don't know if I can stop now  
I'm going too fast, heart first  
My head just can't slow me down  
And I don't care if you don't break my fall  
You got me dreaming of a life  
That anybody else would die for  
Oh baby, anybody else would die for

By the end of lunch he knew it would be up to him to make the next move. He had to man up, and that is when the sweaty palms and speechlessness hit him once more. He looked at her and there was no way he would let her leave without saying something, anything, to get her back again later.

And he would not have her save him from making the choice again. He was Phil Coulson! He could formulate a question to ask a girl out! Couldn't he?

"Thank you for keeping me company during lunch Phil. It was nice. Maybe next time we have a class you won't avoid all of us." She told him as she picked up her things.

Too late for him to think any longer, it was time for the supposed Coulson strength his father had always told him about.

"Yes! It was great. Can I walk you out?"

His enthusiasm threw her for a moment, but she smiled nonetheless. "Sure. That'd be nice."

"Great."

He gathered his things and hers in his arms and led her out the door, one hand on the small of her back as he had always seen his father do for his mother. If it had worked for the old man, maybe it would work here as well. When she didn't pull away from him Phil did another summersault in his mind.

They walked out and she directed their path, taking them to the girls' dorms across the park. He knew his big moment was coming and he wished he wouldn't screw it up as he was wont to do. Just as they approached the door where they would definitely have to split paths he stopped and turned to face her.

"Here's my stop." She smiled at him.

He grinned back, in fear.

"Oh, yes. It appears so."

"So… See you in class?"

He simply nodded, unsure of what he should say, his tongue feeling weighed down by lead. Where had all his courage gone all of a sudden?

She nodded back, got her things from his arm, and started to move away from him once more. The sight of the back of her head leaving got him into gear. He reached out and grasped her elbow before she got too far and his chance was really ruined.

"Melinda, wait. Can I see you again, you know, like, for a meal or something? Not in class, I mean. Maybe for dinner? Or drinks? Or whatever, you know?" He almost cringed at how desperate he sounded by the end of his seemingly never-ending questions.

Thankfully she wasn't nearly as embarrassed as he was. From what Phil could tell, she might have even seemed a bit relieved.

"I'll let you know." She smirked slyly and walked away once more.

It wasn't a yes, but also not a no. And from the sly grin, and the skip to her step, Phil thought he might have a chance after all. Oh yeah, one more win!

At the first sight of her he had fallen in love. There had been no looking back, no other choice, no other girl for him from then on out. Melinda May might not yet have known it, but should was going to be in for a lot of Phil Coulson in her future.

First sight I believed in first sight,  
No second thoughts in my mind, just felt right  
Oh my goodness, oh

Unbeknownst to Phil, as Melinda went into her room she ran to her window which, thankfully at this moment, overlooked the park, and looked on as Phil jumped and wooped like a fool. She smiled broader than when she had been as she came in the room. Sure, she had let him think he had been in control of that last encounter in the lunchroom; just as she would let him think it was his idea when he takes her to the pizza place across town on their next free weekend.

He might have been hooked on her the second he saw her this morning, but from the moment she had noticed him in class months ago she knew there was something special about him. Behind that shy boy there was likely to be a very strong and intelligent man. She just had to be patient for him to come out, and boy could she be patient when she wanted to.

'Just wait and see, Phil Coulson, if we don't become the next best thing to come out of S.H.I.E.L.D.'

Cause I don't know if I can stop now  
I'm going too fast, heart first  
My head just can't slow me down  
And I don't care if you don't break my fall  
You got me dreaming of a life  
That anybody else would die for

_You got me dreaming of a life_

_That anybody else would die for_

_Anybody else would die for_


End file.
